Position: Supervisor of Wholesale Operations
Position Overview:
Our client, one of the largest retail and wholesale lawn and garden centers in Massachusetts, is actively hiring for a Supervisor of Wholesale Operations. This is an incredible opportunity for someone with industry experience to help create and execute the wholesale operations strategy and grow into a management position.
This position is a “runway” position that will initially focus on developing sound practices on how sales and operations are managed in their main location. Once certain goals and benchmarks are met, this position will then be responsible for all wholesale sales and operations throughout the company. As such, the wholesale mangers from other locations will eventually report to and meet regularly with this position so that all wholesale-related activities are performed in a unified manner and are clearly communicated to our staff and clearly presented to our customers.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Initiate strategic planning sessions with the wholesale team and other managers in order to set standards and goals that lead Sales and operations groups to achieve year over year growth or improvement with sales, productivity, inventory sell-through, and presentation.
- Lead team on a daily basis so that our staff feels they are given clear direction on how they perform their job duties and why it is important in context of the systems we rely on to properly operate the business.
- Develop a strong and healthy culture of continuous improvement via encouraging input and frequent engagement with staff.
- Establish good rapport and work closely with company buyers to push new green goods and hard goods products according to what customers are asking for or what they may benefit from once they know more about them.
- Produce annual budgets and provide guidance to other wholesale store managers. Budgets to include Sales by department, COG, Payroll and expenses.
- Work with HR to identify, hire and onboard people, maintain accurate job descriptions, conduct performance reviews, promote people, provide opportunities for advancement, and conduct corrective action as needed.
- Working along with marketing and other managers, host events and seminars that bring in experts from all areas who will educate and empower staff and provide meaningful information for our customers in order to make them more successful with their businesses.
- Work with Director of Marketing and IT Director to develop robust marketing programs and capitalize on new technologies that provide value to our customer base.
- Produce key customer and inventory-based reports on a regular basis to address important issues and make educated decisions.
- Ensure wholesale staff is properly trained, according to individual roles, with our company software and all other technology we utilize to operate our business.
- Ensure wholesale staff is properly on-boarded and receives appropriate attention with ongoing training in areas that will help them with: advancement within their desired career path, safety awareness, internal and external customer experience and product knowledge.
- Plan and schedule in flexibility during busiest times in order to help out different areas of the operation as needed. This is a lead by example position that will require confidence, knowledge and willing ness to work in any selling or operational capacity of the business.
Skills and Qualifications
- Broad horticultural knowledge with focus on Trees, shrubs, acquired either through formal training or on-the-job experience.
- 3-5 years' experience selling lawn and garden products in a wholesale setting.
- Ability to work weekends and during peak customer flow times
- Ability to perform heavy manual tasks under varying weather conditions
- Ability to work in adverse weather conditions, both heat and cold
- Must be physically able to lift up to 50 pounds without assistance on a regular basis throughout the course of the work day
- Must demonstrate thorough understanding of the body mechanics associated with safe lifting techniques and knowledge of principles of strain and sprain prevention
- Has the personal attributes necessary to lead, coach and develop a strong team.
- Effective written and verbal communication skills are important when interacting with customers, peers and direct reports.
- Possesses strong organizational skills and the ability to organize workforce and delegate responsibilities. Planning and follow through are key to ensure all wholesale opportunities achieved.